While roaming around the
upper part of the 40 meter Ham Band in the LSB MODE, I recently overheard
a conversation between a roundtable group. I listened for a few moments
and then heard one of the Hams who was most likely new to Ham Radio, ask
one of the others in the group to give him a signal report.

The
report he got back from the other station was, "You're 59". Silence
was heard for a few moments and then the "new" ham said, "I did not want
you to guess my age....how do you hear me?The reply was again, "You're
59". "What do you mean?" The new Ham said.Then another station
in the roundtable began a very lengthy dissertation to try to explain the
RST reporting method to him that no one could have
understood.

He started talking
about power levels, dB's, S meters, propagation, antenna theory, brand
names, receiver sensitivity and on and on for a good five minutes! When
the new ham started to ask questions, another station spoke up and totally
confused the situation even more! Then another station started with his
'two cents" worth. After a couple more questions with no clear
answers......The new ham finally said "I still don't understand how well
you are hearing me.....I hear the phone ringing....got to go!", and he
signed off. He sounded very disgusted to me when he left the air
abruptly!

In my opinion, in answering his
question...."How do you hear me?"....it would have been much better in
this case to just say "loud and clear" since the new ham had obviously not
studied the RST system of signal reporting and none of the roundtable
station operators could explain RST to him in simple terms....they just
seemed to want to dazzle him with as much "info" as possible! It seemed to
me that they were trying to help in their own way, but did not want to
admit their lack of a "good" explaination. They could have suggested that
he study the RST reporting system on the internet or wherever he could
find the information.

To help the "New" hams and lots of you old
timers who know nothing about giving or receiving signal reports using the
RST method...read on!

THE RST
REPORTING SYSTEM IN A NUTSHELL!RST Reports: An
RST report is a report from a receiving station on the quality and
strength of the transmitted signal. Using shorthand in the form of
numbers to represent the tone of a CW signal or voice transmission of a
transmitting station's signal at the receiving station's location
(QTH).Here is what it means:

R -
Readability - Understanding what is said and how well. On a scale of 1 to
5, the readability of your signal with a "5" being perfect with no
difficulty. In other words the ability of the other operator to understand
what you are saying. A "1" is unreadable....a "5" is perfectly
readable.

S - Strength

-
On a scale of 1 to 9, indicates how strong your stations signal is. A "1"
is a very faint signal. A "9" is an extremely strong
signal.

T - Used for morse code signal reports. Indicates on a
scale of 1 to 9 the quality of the tone of the morse code "dits and
dahs". From a "60 cycle harsh tone" a (1).... To a "very pure tone",
a (9).

Example #1 A CW REPORT: If you got a report
of "599" on CW, it means the following:The five means your
signal is very easy to understand with absolutely no difficulty. The first
nine means your signal registers a very strong reading on your S meter,
usually 3/4 scale or more. The second nine means your CW tone has a
nice pure clear tone or sound.Example #2 A VOICE REPORT: If you get a
5 5 (sometimes said 5 by 5)....Your signal is perfectly readable with a
fairly good signal strength.

In some cases people
may tell you: your signal is five nine plus twenty dB... In this case the
twenty db part indicates that your signal is so strong that it goes off
the standard 1 through 9 signal strength S meter dial by twenty decibels
as indicated on the meter readout. (See note below)This would mean that
you are putting out a REALLY strong
signal!

NOTE:The RST System of Signal Reporting was established
roughly in 1934 as a quick method of reporting Readability, Signal
Strength and the Tone of CW. For voice
contacts only the "R" and "S" are used. The "S" component is usually not
the same as your S-Meter reading as most S-Meters aren't calibrated to
track the RST System.The RST is also reported on QSL Cards and must be
filled in correctly.For example a "569" report for a voice
contact is NOT valid. Remember that the 3rd number from the
left is for "Tone" in CW. Note that many DX operations and contest
stations merely report "599" as a convenience to avoid having to log each
of the real reports. This is a questionable practice but is used most of
the time in DX'ing/Contesting. Would you give a 599 for a station you
could barely hear? Would you appreciate it if this was your report from
someone that could barely hear you? Be honest with your
reports!

The RST report system works well, can be used for
troubleshooting problems with your station and has been used by Hams
worldwide for many years and also is used by the military with slight
modifications in their reporting of
transmissions.

There is
a great deal of "averaging all factors" when giving a signal report to
another station.There is a lot of difference between a voice report of
59 and one of 52.....but the most important thing to me would be
readability! I have heard hundreds of stations perfectly clear on voice
and CW that were not moving the S Meter! (Yes...it does work!) So their
report might have been an R5, S1 or 2........to my
ears!.....

Study this
information below to help you with giving out accurate reports.Feel
free to copy any or all of this information if it would be helpful to
you!R =
READABILITY1 --
Unreadable2 -- Barely readable, occasional words distinguishable3
-- Readable with considerable difficulty4 -- Readable with practically
no difficulty5 -- Perfectly readable